White: Cowboy vs Nurmagomedov winner likely gets title shot vs RDA
Dana White says if Rafael dos Anjos recovers sufficiently from his MCL injury, he will fight the winner of Khabib Numagomedov vs. Donald Cerrone.
Anthony Pettis beat Benson Henderson at UFC 164 on August 31, 2013, winning the UFC lightweight title. Bad news was he injured his knee, needed surgery, and did not fight for over 15 months.
Rafael dos Anjos beat Pettis on Saturday night, taking his title. And once again, the new champion emerged with news of an injured knee. Good news is, dos Anjos injured his medial collateral ligament (MCL) rather than his posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) as Pettis suffered, and recovery time from an MCL is generally quicker.
Another top lightweight, Khabib Nurmagomedov, suffered a rupture MCL, which took him out of a planned title bout. Instead, dos Anjos got the shot, despite losing to Khabib by unanimous decision less than a year ago at UFC on Fox: Werdum vs. Browne.
Nurmagomedov is recovered, and fights Donald Cerrone at UFC 187: Jones vs. Johnson on May 23. At the UFC 185 post fight press conference, UFC president Dana White said the winner of that fight would likely get a shot at dos Anjos and the title.
I think that’s what we’re going to go with, said White. We’ve got to see what happens with Rafael.
White anticipated the lightweight title fight as taking place in late summer or early fall, but hinges of course on how quickly dos Anjos can recover. Based on his performance Saturday, dos Anjos’s knee seems good to go already.
